XFX R7 240 Review

XFX R7 240 Core Introduction:

AMD has filled the market up from high- to low-end graphics card solutions. Rounding out the low-end at the bottom is the R7 240. XFX currently has seven models of the R7 240 to choose from — this is the R7-240A-CLH4. The CLH4 is a passively cooled low-profile card with 2GB of DDR3. This card supports most of the features of its more powerful brethren: GCN Architecture, AMD Mantle, AMD App Acceleration, AMD HD3D, and Quad Full HD/4K support to name a few.

The core is a 28nm Oland Pro clocked at 780MHz under boost, stock 730MHz. Five Compute Units provide 320 Stream Processors, 20 Texture Units, 32 Z/Stencil ROP Units, and 8 Color ROP units. On the memory front there is 2GB of DDR3 clocked at 1.6GHz paired with a 128-bit memory interface. Connectivity is through a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot with video output through HDMI, VGA, and DVI.

XFX R7 240 Core Closer Look:

The box for the XFX R7 240 Core Edition is similar to that of the R7 250, reviewed last year. The main colors are black and white with some blue decorations and yellow to add some pop to the key features. At the bottom the main features are listed: 2GB DDR3 memory, HDMI, DVI, and VGA outputs, completely silent passive 6mm-heatpipe cooler, low profile with interchangeable brackets, Stereoscopic 3D graphics, and 3D Blu-ray ready. Turning the box over reveals features translated in six main languages, including PCI-Express 3.0 x16 bus interface, DirectX 11.2 support, Bullet physics engine, AMD GCN compute architecture, PCI Express 3.0 32GB/s Ultra wide bandwidth & 8GT/s, PowerTune 2, OpenGL 4.2 & OpenCL 1.2, AMD HD3D, Quad Full HD/4K video resolution, AMD PowerPlay, and 3D Blu-ray support.

The first side of the R7 240 box has the background art wrapping around. The center has a list of contents — XFX R7 240, Installation CD, Quick Installation Guide, Driver CD Guide, and Warranty Card. Below this in a very dark font is the copyright information for XFX and AMD. At the very bottom are the different certifications/compliances including FCC Declaration of Conformity, CE European Community, and RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive. The other side is mainly decorative although it does show the model in bold white font.

The top cover is where the self-adhesive card-specific label is placed. The part number for this XFX R7 240 is R7-240A-CLH4. This label also has the serial and UPC codes. At the top right of the label it says "Made In China". The bottom of the box has seven amendments to the points listed all over the box. The right side has the system requirements: one PCI-Express x16 slot available on the motherboard, 400W or greater power supply, for CrossFire another R7 240 and PCI-Express x16 slot on a AMD CrossFire Ready motherboard are needed, and only up to two cards can be used, minimum 1GB of system memory, and Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1 are supported operating systems.

Lower-end graphics cards rarely have or need much in the way of accessories. The XFX R7 240 is protected by a black anti-static bubble wrap sleeve. With DVI, VGA, and HDMI connectivity most users are covered for immediate connection — DisplayPort is left out, but is not nearly as commonplace, especially at this level. XFX has a list of adapters and connectors with their various models and information on how to get them. A Driver/CD Installation Guide, Quick Install Guide, XFX Warranty Information Guide, AMD Graphics Card Driver CD, XFX Pro Series PSUs advertisement, XFX Warranty card with serial and model number for easier support, and two low-profile adapters round out the accessory pack. AMD CrossFire with these cards does not use or need a CrossFire dongle.